


out of time

by euphorickiri



Series: rina week 2020 [6]
Category: High School Musical: The Musical: The Series (TV)
Genre: F/M, Rina Week 2020 (HSM: The Series), angst with a side of angst and even more angst, heavily inspired by tasm 2, spider-man au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-17
Updated: 2020-05-17
Packaged: 2021-03-02 17:00:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,586
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24230206
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/euphorickiri/pseuds/euphorickiri
Summary: gina falls, and ricky can't do anything but watch
Relationships: Ricky Bowen/Gina Porter
Series: rina week 2020 [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1741261
Comments: 1
Kudos: 22





	out of time

Ricky couldn’t remember what life was like before the spider bite. 

He laughed as he swung through the city, following a police chase. He was supposed to be at his graduation ceremony, but as soon as Big Red told him about a robbery, Ricky took off. In moments like these, he couldn’t believe this was his life. His life was already complicated enough. Ricky’s mom left when he was young, leaving him alone with his dad. Ricky usually kept to himself, not having a lot of friends. Nini and Big Red were the only people he talked to. But after the spider bite, things changed all over again. Ricky distanced himself from Nini and Big Red, afraid of hurting them. He refused to tell his dad what was wrong, causing them to fight a lot. Ricky refused to use his newfound powers and just wanted to try and live a semi-normal life.

That changed the night of the convenience store robbery. 

Ricky didn’t do anything, even though he could. Watching his dad get shot was something he would never forget. He held his dad in his arms, his hands drenched in blood as he cried. But even in his last moments, his dad still smiled. 

_With great power comes great responsibility_

He would never take those words for granted again.

Nini’s moms took him in, and even now it still didn’t feel like home. Ricky considered tracking down his mom for the longest time, but he quickly gave up. If she didn’t want to be around him when he was younger, she definitely wouldn’t want anything to do with him now.

Ricky flipped and landed on top of the truck the police were chasing, hanging off the side and knocking on the window. He yelled when the man driving the truck pulled out a gun, moving out of the way when he started to shoot. Ricky groaned when his phone started to ring, grabbing the gun as he answered. 

“Hey Gina!” he exclaimed as he threw the gun away.

When Ricky first started going out as Spider-Man, he saved Gina from a mugging. But if he was being honest, she didn’t actually need help. By the time he got there, Gina had already taken down two of the guys who jumped her. Ricky still had to help her with the last guy, and he might’ve been a little more violent than he needed to be. 

Seeing the girl he’s had a crush since middle school in danger made something snap inside him.

Ricky swung her home, blushing when she rolled up his mask to kiss his cheek. He hit the side of a building swinging his way home thinking about it. Nini teased him relentlessly when he got back home, much to his annoyance. 

But what Ricky didn’t expect was for Gina to come up to him the next day at school, thanking him for saving her. 

Gina was smart. She’s been the valedictorian of their class for as long as anyone could remember. So it didn’t take a lot for her to figure out his secret. Ricky almost passed out when she told him, but she swore not to say anything. 

Gina ended up joining what Big Red called their “Secret Spider-Man Club” - Nini begged him to stop with the team names, but he refused to listen - which ended up bringing them closer together. 

So close to the point where Ricky gathered the courage to confess how he felt. He was prepared for Gina to reject him, knowing she was out of his league. Ricky was relieved when she felt the same way, blushing when she admitted she wasn’t just watching him because she thought he was Spider-Man. 

From then on, things were great. Except for the times Ricky pulled shit like this. 

“Ricky I swear to fucking god,” Gina snapped. “Where the hell are you?”

“I had to run an errand!” Ricky replied, grabbing the steering wheel of the truck with his free hand.

The police sirens following them got louder and Gina groaned over the phone. “Did you seriously leave our graduation ceremony to fight _crime_?”

“It was an emergency! I’ll be back in time for your speech!” Ricky assured, his eyes going wide when he saw a man in the street in the path of the truck. “Okay I really have to go but I’ll be there soon. Love you!”

“Ricky-”

He hung up, already dreading the lecture Gina was going to give him later. Ricky quickly turned the steering wheel towards him, sending the truck flying from the sudden momentum. The driver’s head slammed against the steering wheel, knocking him out. Ricky swung away as the truck landed on the ground and slid away, right towards the man standing in the street. Ricky grabbed him by the waist and pulled him away right before he could be hit. He noticed the man dropped a bunch of papers and shot a web at them. 

“You’re Spider-Man,” the man said in shock.

Ricky handed him his papers. “Yeah, I get that a lot. You okay?”

The man’s name was Max and he was rambling about some birthday party, but Ricky had to go, not hearing the rest of what he said. He cursed when he saw the principal was calling names, swinging into a port-a-potty in the back of the venue to change out of his suit. 

“Richard Bowen!”

He ran up on stage and waved, smiling when he saw Gina standing there with the principal. She gasped when Ricky wrapped his arms around her waist and dipped her, kissing her in front of everyone. He smiled and let her stand up, grabbing his diploma and running off the stage. 

Nini’s moms hugged him tightly after the ceremony was over, happy tears forming in their eyes.

“Your dad would be so proud of you,” Carol said with a sad smile. 

Ricky’s throat closed up and he nodded, not trusting himself to say anything. Nini and Big Red tackled him from behind, cheering loudly. He laughed and hugged them, looking over their shoulders to see Gina with her family. Ricky froze when he saw her dad standing behind them with an angry expression on his face. He closed his eyes and opened them again, sighing in relief when he disappeared. 

Losing his own dad was bad enough. But watching Gina’s dad die was a different type of pain.

He was the head of the police department and helped Ricky take down the Lizard, which cost him his life. Having to deliver the news to Gina wasn’t easy, and Ricky still blamed himself for what happened. 

_You’re going to make enemies. People will get hurt. Sometimes the people closest to you. So I want you to promise me something okay? Leave. Gina. Out of it._

Ricky took a shaky breath and Mr. Porter’s last words echoed in his head, plastering a smile on his face when Gina walked over to him. She pulled him down for a kiss and smacked his arm.

“Running an errand? Seriously?” Gina asked with a raised eyebrow.

“It wasn’t a complete lie,” Ricky replied.

She rolled her eyes and hugged him. “You’re lucky they recorded my speech. You owe me big time.”

He held her tighter, still thinking about Mr. Porter’s words. Nini’s moms asked to take a photo of them, Gina slapping Ricky upside the head when he complained. He ended up going to dinner with Gina and the rest of her family to make up for missing her speech. Ricky tried to focus on what everyone was talking about, but he couldn’t stop thinking about Mr. Porter. He jumped when he saw him standing behind Gina, rubbing his eyes furiously. Ricky took a shaky breath, realizing it was all in his head. Gina noticed his behavior and frowned, excusing them and dragging Ricky outside the restaurant. 

“What’s going on?” she demanded.

“I’m f-”

“Bullshit.”

He sighed and ran his hands over his face, his gaze locked on the ground. Gina walked up to him and cupped his face in her hands, forcing him to look at her.

“Talk to me,” she said gently.

Ricky sighed, covering her hands with his. He froze when Mr. Porter appeared behind Gina and moved away from her. Gina frowned, reaching her hand out towards him.

_Leave. Gina. Out of it._

“We can’t keep doing this,” Ricky blurted out, moving farther away from her. “I can’t keep putting you in danger.”

Gina pulled her hand back, looking at him in disbelief. “Ricky, we’ve talked about this. I know the risks and I don’t care. I want to be there for you.”

“We’re about to go to college Gina!” he yelled. “You don’t need my baggage slowing you down.”

“Where’s this coming from?” she demanded.

Ricky’s gaze shifted behind her where Mr. Porter was still standing. He felt sick when he saw he was holding his stomach where he was shot, glaring at Ricky fiercely. Gina studied him, her eyes narrowing in suspicion. 

“Is it my dad?” she asked, her voice shaking.

Ricky didn’t respond and Gina took that as his answer. “You can’t keep-”

“I love you, okay? I don’t want anything bad to happen to you. If that means staying away, then that’s what I’ll do.”

He wished he kept that promise.

Ricky did stay away from Gina. But no matter how hard he tried, they always ended up bumping into each other. She was there when Electro first attacked, Ricky bumped into her when he went to visit EJ at Oscorp, and he even saw her around the city. 

They always found their way back to each other. 

Gina ended up helping him figure out how to stop Electro, despite Ricky telling her to stay away. She was too stubborn to take no for an answer. He went as far as to web her to a cop car to make sure she didn’t follow him. It didn’t work, but Gina saved his life and saved the city. Ricky scolded her but was relieved that everything was okay.

It was short-lived.

EJ had gone berserk. When he found out Ricky was Spider-Man, something snapped. His blood could’ve been a cure to EJ’s sickness, but Ricky refused to let him have any blood. He was afraid of what it could do to EJ. It was too risky, but he was still determined to figure out a way to help his friend. EJ, unfortunately, didn’t see it that way. He broke into a classified section of Oscorp and injected himself with an untested serum, turning him into the green goblin. Ricky pushed Gina behind him as EJ flew over them, a sinister grin on his face.

“EJ, what the hell did you do?” he asked quietly.

“I saved myself,” EJ hissed.

“Is this seriously what you consider saving?” Ricky demanded. “Look at yourself!”

“You turned your back on me!” he roared. “You left me with no choice.”

“He still wanted to help you _prick_ ,” Gina snapped. 

Ricky looked back at her and glared. “Gi-”

“You can’t keep letting him push you around like this! He’s being an ungrateful brat!” she argued. “Ricky has done nothing but be a good friend to you. But your ego is too big to see that, isn’t it?”

Gina didn’t even flinch when EJ hissed at her. Ricky yelled in protest when he flew towards Gina and grabbed her, flying away. He quickly swung after them, moving faster when he saw how much she was struggling to break out of EJ’s grip. 

“All I cared about was a cure and you took that away from me!” EJ snapped. “Let’s see how you like it when I take something away from _you_.”

“Put her down EJ!” Ricky yelled. “This is between you and me!”

The older teen ignored him and flew towards the clock tower. He dropped Gina immediately, but Ricky was able to catch her. He held her as they went crashing through the top of the clock tower, crashing onto the ground. Gina took a shaky breath and Ricky held her tightly.

“You okay?” he asked.

“I’ve been better,” she replied.

They both looked up when EJ came flying towards them. Ricky jumped out of the way, holding Gina in his arms. He set her down on one of the moving clock parts before turning his attention back on EJ.

“Don’t let him kick your ass!” Gina called. 

Ricky rolled his eyes fondly, moving out of the way when EJ threw himself at him. He groaned when EJ kicked him in the chest, sending him flying across the clock tower. Ricky quickly got up and punched him across the face in retaliation. They kept throwing hits at each other, Gina watching them worriedly. Her eyes went wide when EJ pulled out a bomb.

“ _RICKY_!”

His spider-sense already alerted him, but it was too late. EJ threw the bomb and it went off, sending everything in the clock tower flying. Gina screamed when the clock part she was standing on broke, sending her flying. Ricky quickly shot a web, sighing in relief when it reached her hand. He winced when EJ came up behind him and knocked him down, stepping on the hand he was holding the web with. Ricky shot up and hit his head against EJ’s, but the other teen still didn’t budge. 

“You don’t want to do this,” Ricky said fiercely.

EJ grinned, watching as the web started to shake. “That’s where you’re _wrong_.”

“Ricky?” Gina asked worriedly. 

The web snapped. 

Ricky kicked EJ in the chest harshly, sending him flying back. He hit the wall with a loud bang, knocking him out. The force sent a bunch of other clock parts falling down the clock tower. Ricky jumped after Gina, moving as fast as he could. Time seemed to slow down around them. Gina didn’t scream as she fell. Tears formed in her eyes and she looked up at Ricky, taking him in.

Whatever happened, she wanted him to be the last thing she saw. 

No matter how fast Ricky fell, he still couldn’t get close to Gina. He shot a web towards her, a small hand forming at the end of it, reaching for her desperately. Ricky held his breath when it attached to Gina’s stomach, holding onto a nearby bar and stopping his fall. Gina kept her eyes on him, a small smile on her face as a single tear fell from her eye. The web stopped her fall and she hovered over the floor.

But not before Gina’s head smacked against the ground harshly.

Ricky felt his heart drop when Gina didn’t move. He attached the web to the bar he was holding and jumped the rest of the way down. Ricky ripped off his mask, removing the web from Gina’s stomach and holding her in his arms.

“Gina?” he asked quietly. “Gina please this isn’t funny.”

She didn’t move.

His hands were shaking as he brushed Gina’s hair from her face. Ricky pressed his forehead against hers and sobbed, holding her tightly.

“ _Please_ ,” he begged as his voice broke. “You can’t leave me. I can’t lose you too. Gina please, wake up.”

Blood poured from her nose, and Gina remained unmoving.

Ricky let out a gut-wrenching scream, his entire body trembling. Tears blurred his vision as he cried harder, cradling Gina’s head. He looked up, freezing when he saw Mr. Porter standing in front of him, his face emotionless.

  
“You _failed_.”


End file.
